Michael Cartellone has been the drummer in Lynyrd Skynyrd since the 1999 dissolution of rock supergroup Damn Yankees, in which he played with Ted Nugent and Styx’s Tommy Shaw.

He’s also been the drummer for Shaw’s solo shows, for Ted Nugent, Cher, John Fogerty, the band Accept and others.

But he’s had another lifelong passion: painter of fine art.

Cartellone, 48, will introduce his paintings to the world at Wentworth Galleries today in Short Hills, N.J., and Sunday at King of Prussia Mall.

In advance of the shows, Cartellone spoke from his New York City home about both his careers, and how they have come together.

Here is a transcript:

How did you end up becoming the drummer for Lynyrd Skynyrd? You had worked with Tommy Shaw – how did that translate into Lynyrd Skynyrd?

“Well, it was actually back during Damn Yankees, and were playing in Jacksonville – this would have been 1990 – and Johnny Van Zandt was backstage at the show, and he had brought his kids, ‘cause they were Damn Yankee fans. And I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is really cool, meeting a dude from Skynyrd. ‘Cause of course I grew up a Skynyrd fan like a lot of us did. And so that’s where I first met Johnny, and then, as youwould imagine, the music business is a small business and you do tend to bump into the same people over and over during your travels – be it you might be playing on the same show or you find yourself in a town the night before another band or a night after and there’s an overlap at a hotel and that who thing. So over the years I did run into Johnny and the Skynyrd guys many. Many times. (Continued)

“Now fast-forward in 1998, I believe, I was doing a tour with Tommy Shaw, who was supporting a solo album at the time. He ended up doing a month of opening act dates with Skynyrd, so that kind of enabled us to spend a lot of time socially together and what I didn’t know at the time is that they were kind of checking me out from the side of the stage because they were thinking about getting a new drummer. And then, almost immediately on the heels of that tour, they ended up recording an album. The man who was producing the record – his name is Ron Nevison – had produced both Damn Yankee records, among other albums that I had done just kind of freelance with Ron. So there was a nice little tie-in there, they ended up asking me to come in and do percussion on that record – you know, tambourine, cowbell, that kind of stuff – and the next thing I find out is they ask me, ‘Well, what are you doing this year?’ And I just finished a world tour with John Fogerty so the timing was just golden and I joined Skynyrd – so that was 1998.”

Yeah, and I’m crunching numbers in my head here – the period you have been with them now probably makes you the longest-tenured drummer ever in Skynyrd.

“That is correct. First of all, that in itself, I think, is amazing, when you consider the incredible history that this band has had [laughs]. But what’s even funnier is, even though I’ve been in the band 11 years, I still get referred to as ‘That guy from Damn Yankees.’ [Laughs]”

Yeah, welcome to the world of music, I guess. Your get put into a box and it’s difficult to get out.

“Ah, yes, it’s all good. It’s OK – I’m very proud of all of the above, so it’s all no complaints here.”

Now tell me about the other part of you: How does visual art become such a large part of your life. Tell me how the seed grows.

“I can give you one big, broad stroke, and that is the art and the music are two halves of a whole for me. They’ve co-existed most of my life and also have fed off of each other and complimented each other and enhanced each other most of my life. I actually started painting when I was 4 years old, and the kindergarten teacher happened to see something in an artistic flair, I suppose, and mentioned to my parents that they may want to develop that. So the summer in between kindergarten and first grade, I went to The Art Institute of Cleveland in Cleveland, Ohio, which is my hometown. I mean, I was a little kid, so they were trying to teach very formal training to maybe somebody who wasn’t ready to absorb it yet [laughs]. But I’ll tell you, John, for most of my childhood, I had visions and focused on being an artist for a career. And in fact, I really wanted to be a cartoonist. And when I was 9 years old, I started playing drums and that completely took over. And I played my first bar when I was 11, so when I dove into drumming, I dove into it with my entire body.

“However, even though my entire body was drumming, I had my big toe still sitting in a jar of paint. I never stopped painting. And then consequently, throughout all of my elementary and high school years, I took every art and every music course available, and basically just continued to study both throughout those years and up to this day. So it really has been a nice kind of co-existing world split right down the middle.”

So then tell me how it becomes a capital venture. When do you start selling your paintings, and how does it get to this point?

“I started actually doing just private commission sales of paintings while I was still a teenager and started doing some gallery shows in my early 20s. And by this time now, I’m already a professional touring musician, but I’m still painting constantly on the side, as it were. So it’s actually been around as an alternative income source for quite a while [laughs]. So now we fast-forward to 2004 – I came up with this idea to start carrying some art supplies on the road. Because as Skynyrd travels, we have a lot of down time just kind of hanging out in hotel rooms. And I thought, ‘You know what? I should really make better use of this than just watching pay-per-view – not that there’s anything wrong with that [laughs]. So I started carrying little collapsible easel and a little toolbox filled with paints and I started spending the days painting in hotel rooms. [Lynyrd Skynyrd played Allentown Fair that year]

"Have you seen any of the work, by chance?”

Yes, I went on the gallery’s website and saw the display they have there.

“OK, so there is a series of five paintings, and they’re called the road series, and each one is a predominant color – red, yellow, green, blue, purple. Those paintings are life on the road with Lyynyrd Skynyrd, and each one of them represents kind of a very private, behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it’s really like.

“ For example, one of them is what it looks like sitting behind my drum kit. One of them is what it looks like sitting in the front passenger seat of the tour bus, looking down the road. So that kind of thing. So in essence, I was painting those road series paintings while we were on tour, literally painting my surroundings while I was living them day in and day out. And I thought , ‘Well, you know, this is really maybe the perfect time to now really put it out there publically and introduce myself in a grand scale to the world as a painter, and I’ll do it painting about my life as a musician.’ So I thought this is the perfect opportunity to combine both of my worlds – the two halves of a whole -- and then show it to the world.

“So I actually kicked off this whole, really profiles art career, with the road series paintings.”

I did notice that the paintings I’ve seen online – No 1., they’re almost exclusively musical subjects, and No. 2 that some of them were painted on what looked like drum heads. Is that correct?

“Yes. Correct to both. The work is predominantly music-themed – again, that’s a reflection of who I am and my interests. However, there are other things – one of the paintings in there that I’m most proud of is the Charlie Chaplin portrait – and there’s a really cool story about that, and we can get into that if you’d like. And then, you are correct – I’ve been painting for the past couple months exclusively just on drum heads. Each one of them is inspired by a classic album. Literally, as we speak, I am sitting next to my easel and the drum head that’s sitting here is ‘Frampton Comes Alive.’ And it’s half-finished –it’ll be ready for the gallery shows.

”This whole thing of painting on the drumheads has now turned into such a fun thing, that I envision doing it forever. So I would say that people may want to keep, every now and then, checking the Wentworth site because as more drumheads are complete, they’re going to be popping up on there.

As I was looking at that, it struck me – and this is a generalization – people who are interested in you probably are interested in those subjects, as well.

“Oh yeah. A Lynyrd Skynyrd fan is a Beatles fan is a Who fan is a Zeppelin fan is a Stones fan.

“ And what’s fun about the records I’ve chosen is every one of them has a story to it why it was an important record to me and why I chose it. And that’s been fun because, much like the road series, I’m kind of sharing something about myself every time I pick up the paint brush.”

Give me an example of one of them.

“OK. There is a Police drum head; it’s from the album ‘Ghost in the Machine.’ Not only was I a huge Police fan, but their drummer, Stewart Copeland, was a huge influence on me. That may not be something that people would be able to hear if they come and see me play with Lynyrd Skynyrd. But in fact, he is one of my favorite drummers and to this day, he still inspires me when I listen to him play.”

I share your admiration for Copeland. I’ve always admired how fast and yet precise he is.

“Yeah, completely unique. When that band came out, he was doing stuff that nobody ever heard a drummer do. And frankly to this day, he still does stuff that you don’t hear other drummers do. The guy is just brilliant.

“Now one really cool thing about these drum heads that is worth mentioning, John, is these drum heads are one-of-a-kind paintings. So when these drum heads sell, that’s it, they’re gone. There are no reproductions being made. And for that reason, they’re, I think, more valuable and certainly more important as a piece of art.”

So tell me the story about the Chaplin painting.

“The Chaplin painting – basically I have been a lifelong admirer of Charlie Chaplin. This goes back to a film history class that I was in back in high school – which was my introduction to him. To kind of cut right to the chase, all these years later I’m now very proud to say that I have friends in the Chaplin family – some of Charlie’s children and grandchildren have become friends of mine. And that Chaplin painting in particular is part of an actual business agreement that have with the Chaplin family. That one has the official blessing of the estate, as it were.

“When it came time to do the footwork for that painting, as I was doing the planning, I had come up with the idea that I wanted to have this painting be predominantly black and white – because that’s the way we’ve seen Charlie on film – but I wanted the eyes to be full color and photo realistic. In part because not a lot of people know that Charlie had very vivid blue eyes.

“Knowing that I had access to information that a lot of people wouldn’t have, I literally was told by one of Charlie’s daughters specific information with actual looking at pictures of the color eye that was correct for her father. And then since that painting’s been finished, I’ve actually been with some of Charlie’s friends and held up a picture and said, ‘Is that right? Did I get it right?’ And they said, ‘Yeah, those are my father’s eyes as I remember them.’ “

That’s fascinating. Great research.

“And it was fun doing it, it was fun doing it. And I have to tell you this, John – when I did the Ronnie Van Zandt portrait, I did the exact same thing, because I realized I’ve got Johnny Van Zandt right next to me. Who better to tell me what his brother’s eyes looked like exactly? And that Ronnie Van Zandt painting also was done in hotel rooms and as I was painting it, Johnny would come down the hall, he would look at it, Gary Rossington would come down the hall. I mean, it was really fun because everybody kind of got emotionally involved in this painting as it was coming to fruition.”

I’ve been a music writer for a couple of decades, and it strikes me that I’ve run across a few musicians who also paint. For example, I know Bob Dylan is a prolific painter. Just last year, I spoke with John Mellencamp and found out he’s a painter. Tony Bennett. Even people of various musical styles find a creative outlet in painting. Does that surprise you at all?

“I’m always surprised to hear about so-and-so being a painter also because sometimes it’s under the radar. But when I do hear about it I’m never surprised that so-and-so had the ability to paint also. Because [laughs] as I say, it’s just part of the expression of what we do. I think there are things about painting that can’t be expressed in writing a song – and vice versa. It really comes down to if you have it within and you need to express it to get it out, it’s going to come out – whether it’s through a lyric, a visual piece or banding on an instrument.”

“And that it’s really been fun for me because what has happened is the music fans ask me about the art and the art fans ask me about the music. What’s been interesting to see is watching the lightbulb kind of get turned on from one camp and then turned on from the other camp. So it’s fun to feel like I can kind of speak from an informed opinion about both [Laughs]. ”

Just wanted to tell you that you are the first famous person I have met. I met you at the walmart autographs in millington I am 11 years old you ave inspired me because I also have the two passions of painting and drums. Ty fr that.

Posted By: Manuel najera | Aug 31, 2012 4:22:59 PM

Interesting article I went to school with you and I see your dad at the Italian club meetings

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JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.